Smoke and fuel waste eliminator



March 1953 w. v. DRISCOLL 2,632,376

SMOKE AND FUEL WASTE ELIMINATOR Filed Sept. 5, 1950 William M. Drisco/l INVENTOR.

Patented Mar. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims. (01. 98-67) This invention comprises novel and useful improvements in a smoke and fuel waste eliminator and more specifically pertains to an attachment adapted for application to conventional chimneys.

'The primary object of this invention is to provide a means which shall effectively reduce the smoke and fuel waste of existing chimneys and various combustion chambers, regardless of the type of fuel consumed therein.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device in accordance with the preceding object which shall be capable of easy attachment to various conventional chimneys.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an attachment for chimney flues which shall retard excessive drafts therethrough, while maintaining a predetermined minimum suction on the combustion chamber associated with that flue.

In general, the aim of this invention is to provide an aid to insure proper combustion within any combustion chamber regardless of the type of the fuel used, by retarding any excessive suction therethrough due to an excessively strong flue draft, while supplementing or correcting any sluggishness within the chimney flue due to low barometric pressure or poor draft facilities.

More specifically, the invention overcomes the above. mentioned obstacles to proper fuel com bustion by the provision within the device of a booster or supplemental volume of the chamber within the device which is effective to eliminate excessive fuel waste within the combustion chamber, prevent unused carbon in the form of smoke from being discharged into the atmosphere whereby a saving of fuel is effected.

Further, the device itself is maintained at a temperature by the passage therethrough of the combustion products of the flue which is sufficient to eliminate the possibility of the formation of carbon or creosotewithin the flue walls inasmuch as the warmth of the device prevents the flue gases from falling below their dew point until they have been dispelled through the device into the atmosphere.

The foregoing, together with various ancillary features and objects of the invention, which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by the resent in-; vention, a preferredembocliment of which has been illustrated, by way of example only, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view of one embodiment of the attachment incorporating therein the principles of this invention;

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the various elements making up the attachment;

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view through a portion of a flue of a chimney to which the attachment of Figure 1 has been applied; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical transverse sectional view through a portion of a chimney flue to which the-attachment of Figure2 has been applied. i I I proved attachment according to this invention which is associated with a chimney a portion of which has been shown at E2 and which contains the usual chimney flue I4. vThe device is adapted to be inserted into the upper end of the flue of the chimney and to be mounted and sealed therein in an air-tight manner as set forth hereinafter.

The device itself consists of an elongated hollow body which may be constructed in various sizes, and whose fundamental principle is that the passage through the body is widened at its mid-portion to provide a supplemental or booster volume of space within the body for a purpose which will be later apparent.

Conveniently, as illustrated, the hollow body may comprise substantially identical upper and lower substantially conical casings I6 and 18 of sheet metal or the like, which have their smaller ends truncated to provide circular openings 26] and 22. provided with circumferential, outwardly extending flanges, 24 and 26 which are apertured as at 28 and which are adapted to be secured together as by the fastening bolts or rivets 30, or in any other desired manner. The two frustoconical members, when secured together as a' unit, are mounted in the flue Hi of the chimney;

i2 and disposed preferably centrally of the same With substantially the lower half of the body being positioned Within thefiue, while the upper half extends thereabove, as shown in Figure 3. In order to mount the body in the flue and to seal the opening oroutletof the flue except by passage of the gases from the interior of the flue through the attachment to the atmosphere,

there is provided a mounting and sealing means in the form of a plate 32 having a central aperture 34. The aperture is of such a size that one of the casing members It or it may be disposed therein, and may be frictionally retained by the tightness of .a press fit. 7 Alternatively, it will be apparent that the plate 32 may have screw threaded bores 36 therein whereby the fastening means 30 may comprise bolts The, bases of the conical casings are the upper part of the chimney l2 and is sealed thereto in an air-tight .manner as bycementing or otherwise sealing the edges. of the plate against the chimney.

As illustrated in Figure 3, it will be seen that the upper casing I6 is forced into the plate 32 from the underside thereof, the entirelower. casing I 8 being disposed within the chimney flue. Of course the reverse arrangement could be employed with the member 18 restingin' the aperture 34 of the plate 32 from the upper side thereof, with all of the .upper casing 16 positioned above the sealing and mounting plate.

Referring now to Figure 3, it will be noted that there area pair of dotted lines 38 extending'sbetween the upper andlower open endsZO and 22 of the body. As indicated by these lines, the circular areas of the openings'20 and 22 are equal, and these lines indicate the cylindrical passage' extending between these openings. This 4 desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, but all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

.1. A smoke and fuel waste eliminator comprising an elongatedhollow body free of internal obstructions and having open upper and lower ends, means for mounting and sealing said hollow body in a chimney opening with the lower end in the flue of the chimney, said body having an passage indicated by the numeral 40 may be considered to be the normal passage of combustion products through the device which would be normally permitted by the size of the openings 20 and 22. However, by virtue of the conical shape of the casings, it will be apparent that there-is provided a space 42 surrounding this normal passage which space 42 may be considered to constitute an auxiliary or booster chamber or volume.

The -eifect of this supplemental 0r auxiliary space will be to constitute a-reservoir which by [permitting expansion of the-gases flowing into the device will produce a draft equalizer which will tendto improve a sluggish draft and also throttle down an overly strong draft. This draft equalization is maintained by the booster efiect of the lower portion or casing [8 combined with the throttling effect of the upper portion or casing [6, when the two frusto-conical members of the body are secured together and inserted in the iiue as illustrated in Figure 3.

As will be apparent, all of'thecombustion gases originating in the combustion chamber pass into and circulate through the chimney flue'l4 there- Joy-heating the inside wall offlue t4 throughout,

1 and necessarily pass from flue l4 into the device being trapped in the portion of flue ['4 area surrounding casing Hi. It is also apparent that all of such gases after passing into the .device'or body circulate therein and pass into the atmosphere throughopeninglfl; The passingof such heated gasesthroughout flue [land through the device or body from opening 22 to opening 20, keeps the inside walls of the flueand the walls of the device or body constantly heated, thus preventing'the formation of carbon or creosoted-eposits on the walls of the flue and device.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changeswill readily occur'to those skilled in the art after a considerationof the foregoing speciflcation: and accompanying drawings, it 'is not intermediate portion of greater diameter than that of its open lower end to provide an increased volume for theflow of gases therethrough, said body consisting of conical casings connected at their bases, said casings having circumferential coupling flanges, the mounting and sealing means comprising a plate secured to 'said coupling flanges and being adapted "to overlie the top of a'chimney.

2. A smoke and fuel Waste eliminator comprising an elongated, hollow body having open upper and lower ends, means for mounting and sealing said hollow body in a chimney opening with the lower end in the flue of the chimney, said body having'an intermediate portion of greater diameter than that of its open lower end to provide an increased volume for the flow of gases therethrough, said body consisting of conical casings connected at their bases, the'mounting and sealing means comprising a plate secured to the top of a chimney and closing the flue of the same, said plate having an aperture, one of said casings being seated in said aperture.

3. A smoke and fuel waste eliminator comprising an elongated hollow body having open upper and lower ends, means for mounting and sealing said hollow body in a chimney opening with the. lower end in the flue of the chimney, said body having an intermediate portion of greater diameter than that of'its lower end to provide an equalizing reservoir for equalizing the variating flow of gases through the body, said body consisting of two identical conical casings having outturned flanges at their bases, 'the mounting and sealing means comprising'a'plate secured to the top of a'chimneyand forming a seal with the flue of -same,-said plate having an aperture, oneofsai'd casings beingseated in said aperture with the flanges of the two casings connected to each other'and toth-e plate.

VVIILBIAM V. DRISC'OLL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references arelo'f :record:.in:.the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES *P TENTS 

